Wall climber



G. HJELTE WALL CLIMBER May 1, 1962 Filed Jan. 8, 1960 1 INVENTOR.650,@65 #da 75 Cl??? Q-tarfze 5 Uited States This invention relates togymnasium and playground equipment, and more particularly to a uniquedevice to facilitate use of the arm, shoulder and trunk muscles.

' It is well known that one of the most effective ways to exercise armand trunk muscles is climbing, wherein reliance is primarily on thehands and arms. In gymnasiums, a device often used for this purpose is arope that is secured at one end in the ceiling.

' The rope device has several disadvantages. From the standpoint of theperson doing the climbing, there is al- Waysthe danger of slipping, inwhich case his hands may be burned badly as he slides down the rope, andhe may lose his grip and fall a considerable distance and be injured.And if he is somewhat fearful of heights, as is often the case forbeginners, he is less likely to have a desire for this form of exercise.

In a physical education class wherein a number of students are to do aclimbing exercise, the rope device has the disadvantage that it willaccommodate only one person at a time. This results in time being lostby the others waiting to take their turns, so as to make it difficultfor the instructor to schedule the climbing exercise for all thestudents in a class. This is unfortunate, because it is better for astudent to perform such an exercise regularly.

It is an object of this invention to provide a unique device thatovercomes the above and other disadvantages of the prior art.

It is another object of this invention to provide an exercise devicethat is useful as a climber, and which can accommodate several personsat a time.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a combined climberand slide to permit a person to slide from any height to which heclimbs.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a combinationclimber and slide that extends at an angle from a wall and along aslant, so that one can climb along an incline to any desired point andslide to the floor from such point.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a combination climberand slide in accordance with the preceding paragraph, in which thedevice is pivotally mounted to swing against the wall when not in use,thereby to avoid obstructing activities conducted in that part of thegymnasium.

The above and other objects and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing of illustrative embodiments thereof, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a corner portion of a room, whereincombined climber and slide devices are shown in perspective on one walland in elevation on the other wall, showing how the panel of a device isslanted along a wall and held with the lower edge extending somedistance from the wall;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevation view of a climber slide of the type shownin FIGURE l, showing the L-shaped angle member pivoted on the wall atits upper end, and a link element for engaging thte wall at differentpoints to vary the angle at which the panel extends from the wall;

FIGURE 3 is an end elevation view of a modified panel and mounting meanstherefor, showing the upper portion of the panel pivoted on the wall,and telescopic type elements secured to the wall adjacent the oor forholding "atet Vrice the lower portion of the panel at a desired distancefrom the wall;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary end elevation view of a panel and a separategrip rod, showing the rod iixedly secured to the wall adjacent the upperedge of the panel;

FIGURE 5 is an end elevation of another form of panel having integralhand grip means, showing a triangular plate hinged to the wall so it canbe swung outwardly to hold the panel at a desired angle; and

FIGURES 6 and 7 are enlarged fragmentary side elevation views of thecooperating portions of the link and stops of the modification of FIGURE2.

Referring to FIGURE l, my invention comprises an elongated sheet 10adapted for pivotal movement on a wall 11. The surface of the sheet 10that faces the room is smooth, and free of interruptions that might cutones skin or snag clothing. The sheet 10 may be made of any desiredmaterial, e.g., metal (such as stainless steel) or plastic (such asfibre-glass), reinforced where necessary to make it rigid. Y

Sheets 10 of generally rectangular shape are shown in FIGURE l. Thesheets have their greater dimensions extending generally horizontally,and are pivotally held adjacent their upper edges or sides. In additionto the lower edges or sides of the sheets being held away from the walls11, the upper edges of the sheets are canted along the Walls. This makesthe lower edge of the rectangular sheet canted as well, so that thelower edge is lower at one end (the right hand end in FIGURE 1) than atthe other end of the sheet.

I provide gripping elements substantially parallel with the upper edgesof the sheets, such as rods 13 connected to the sheets by spaced ribs14. Preferably, the lower end of the rod 13 is at a distance from thefloor such that one must exert himself to reach it, e.g. by jumping orstretching, and the upper end of the rod is too high to be reachedexcept by proceeding along the rod from its lower end.

It will be appreciated that my unique invention effectively forces aperson to climb in order for him to reach the upper end of the rod 13.Once he starts moving along the rod to the left, his feet are oi theoor. Due to the smoothness of the outer surface of the sheet 10, hecannot readily use his legs or his feet to help him in his climb.Instead, climbing is accomplished by pulling oneself upwards and to theleft by the arms, and advancing to the left by walking with the handsalong the rod 13. Such pulling and accompanying movements will be .seento exercise the arm, shoulder and trunk muscles considerably. When onereaches the upper end of .the rod 13, he slides down the sheet 10 to thefloor. The distance between the floor and the upper end of the loweredge of the sheet is selected so that the drop to the floor is notgreat.

As will be seen by inspection of my invention, several persons can dothe climbin-g exercise at one time. As soon as one person moves upward asufficient distance, another can begin his climb. Also, since myinvention effectively forces one to climb while on an incline, it hasthe advantage that one cannot suddenly drop to lthe floor, ie., if oneshands slip off the rod 13, he moves toward the floor at an angle (alongthe inclined surface of the sheet 10), and has only a very short dropfrom the lower edge of the sheet to the floor. And it will be apparentthat the measure of safety inherent in my invention gives encouragementto many who are fearful of injury from climbing ropes and the like.

Referring now to FIGURE 2 along with FIGURE l, one means for supportingthe combined climber and slide of my invention comprises spaced L-shapedmembers 15 secured to the rear surface of the sheet 10 and extendingsubstantially the width thereof. The upper ends of .the members t intovertical channel members 16 that are secured to the wall 11. The members15 Iare supported for pivotal movement, as on pins 17 extending throughthe channel members 16.

To hold the lower edge of the sheet 10 a desired distance away from thewall, I provide link members 13 ythat are hinged to the lower ends ofthe L-shaped members 15, as indicated at 19.

The free end of each link is positioned so as to be releasably lockedagainst vertical movement. To this end, the channel 16 is provided witha pair of spaced stops 21, 22. When the link 13 is substantiallyhorizontal, the free end thereof rests on top of the lower stop 2-1,whereby the link cannot move downwardly. To prevent the link from movingupwardly from the horizontal position, a small button-like protrusion 23is provided in the channel immediately above the free end of the link.Thus, to remove the link from its position requires that the sheet 19 beswung ont enough so that the link clears the stop 21 and the protrusion23.

To hold the sheet 10 on a steeper incline, the links 13 have their freeends moved upwardly in the channels 16 until they engage the stops 22,as' indicated in dotted positions of the elements in FIGURE 2.

When the sheet is not to' be used, it is lowered lto a positionsubstantially parallel to the wall. This position is achieved by freeingthe links 18 to ride in the channels 16 above the stops 22.. Thus, myinvention provides an item of gymnasium equipment that can bepermanently installed, but which takes up substantially no space when itis desired to use the gymnasium for other activities.

FIGURE 3 shows an arrangement wherein the gripping element constitutesthe upper edge of the sheet 3). This provision is made by means of atubular element 31 substantially encircled by the material of the sheet.The upper end of the sheet is pivotally mounted, as on ribs 32 on pins33 in wall brackets 34.

The lower edge of the sheet 3) is held outwardly by rods 35 that areslidably mounted in sleeves 36. rThe sleeve 36 is held at one end in awall bracket 37, and the rod is held at one end in a bracket 3S that issecured to the sheet 30. As will be apparent, the rod may be selectivelypositioned and held in the sleeve 36 where desired, as by la pin (notshown) extending through aligned openings in the sleeve and the rod.

FIGURE 4 illustrates an arrangement of my invention wherein the grippingmeans comprises a rod 4t) secured to the wall by brace elements 41. Therod 40 is spaced slightly above the upper edge portion of a sheet 4t2;that is mounted on the L-shaped members 15.

In FIGURE 5, a sheet 50 is shown pivotally mounted at S1 on the wall 11.To hold the sheet 50 out from the wall, I provide spaced positioningelements 52 that are shaped substantially as right triangles. Theelements 52 are supported on wall hinges 53. The hinges 53 permit thepositioning elements 52 to be turned to lie flat against the wall, inwhich case the sheet 50 hangs vertically.

When the sheet is to be used for exercise, the lower edge is pulled awayfrom the wall, and the ,positioning elements 52 are swung outwardly. Thesheet is then allowed to rest on the edges of the hypotenuse portions ofthe positioning elements.

While I have illustrated and described certain embodiments of myinvention, it will be apparent that various modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.Accordingly, I do not intend that my invention shall be limited, exceptas by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In gymnasium apparatus to be secured to a wall a short distance abovethe floor, a climber device comprising: an elongated sheet of materialhaving a smooth front surface to be oriented with one edge uppermost;hinge means spaced along the upper edge of said sheet for hingedlyconnecting said sheet to the wall so that said sheet is oriented withsaid smooth surface facing away from the wall; brace means spaced alongthe rear surface of said sheet for interconnecting the wall and theadjacent surface of said sheet to hold said sheet in a plane inclined toboth the vertical and the horizontal; and a hand-hold member parallel tothe upper edge of said sheet, whereby to permit one to climb with hishands, while sliding on said yfront surface, from a lower level to ahigher level.

2. The combination delined in claim l, wherein said brace means includeselements having portions to be fixed to the wall and other portionsremovably engageable with said sheet.

3. The combination dened in claim 1, wherein said brace means includesspaced elements having portions fixed to said sheet and other portionsfor removably engaging the wall.

4. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein said hinge means supportssaid one edge on aline inclined to the horizontal.

5. Exercise apparatus comprising: a substantially rectangular sheet ofmaterial having a smooth surface to be oriented with one edge uppermost;a plurality of elements spaced along the upper edge of said sheet, saidelements being secured to said sheet on the surface opposite said smoothsurface; means for connecting said elements to a Wall for pivotalmovement thereon, whereby the opposite edge of said sheet can be swungtoward and away from the wall; and a plurality of spaced brace elementsspaced along said sheet intermediate the wall and said sheet forreleasably holding said sheet in a position wherein said opposite edgeis a predetermined distance from the wail, said connecting elements andbrace elements being cooperatively related with said sheet to hold saidsheet so it is inclined to both the vertical and the horizontal.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,915,371 Lowman June 27, 1933 1,993,409 Leech Mar. 5, 1935 2,372,164Woodhams Mar. 20, 1945

